Adolphus Wabara

Adolphus Ndaneweh Wabara is a former Nigerian senator who represented the People's Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State. He became a senator in 1999, and was president of the Senate of Nigeria from 2003 to 2005, he continued his tenure as a senator until 2007 when he stepped down.^[1]

Background

Adolphus Wabara was born in 1948, and obtained a master's degree from Kiev State University.^[1] He is happily married with 2 children. He Grew up in a family of six, five brothers and one sister, one of the brothers was former Managing Director of Hallmark Bank Marc Wabara.

Senate career

Adolphus Wabara was elected to the Senate in 1999, and reelected in 2003. He was president of the Senate of Nigeria from 2003 to 2005.^[1] In the April 2003 election Wabara was first declared the loser to D.C. Imo, candidate of the All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP), but won a court appeal in June 2003 and was declared elected.^[2] The decision was controversial.^{[3] [4]}

At a Commonwealth meeting in December 2003, Adolphus Wabara said that "Responsive and responsible governance should be the keyword ... as it is the only instrument for promoting democratic values, wealth creation and people’s empowerment."^[5]

In May 2004 senators moved to investigate Wabara over alleged financial misdeeds. President Olusegun Obasanjo supported the decision.^[6] The senators accused Wabara of exceeding his authority by handing out various contracts without the knowledge or approval of the responsible Senate committee.^[7] An additional allegation was made by Senator Bode Olowoporoku, who denied receiving a N 3 million advance that the Senate President said had been paid to him for a tour of Europe and Latin America.^[8] Wabara said he was ready for the probe, and said the allegations were false, raised by Igbo senators who wanted his position.^[9]

In February 2005 at a reception hosted by the Chinese embassy, Wabara confirmed Nigerian support for the One China policy, and said the Senate would do all it could to foster the relationship with China.^[10]

In April 2005 Wabara resigned from his position after allegations were made that he and others took a $400,000 bribe from the education minister, Fabian Osuji.^[11] He was succeeded by Senator Ken Nnamani.^[12] Fabian Osuji had been fired the month before for allegedly bribing Wabara and six other members of parliament to facilitate passage of his annual budget.^[13] After extended legal battles, on 1 June 2010 Wabara's charges were dropped. The court held that the charges were bogus and failed to disclose prima facie cases against the accused persons. The court held that the action of the federal government on the allegation was most embarrassing, barbaric and uncivilised because the accused persons had not made statements to any security agents before the broadcast trial and finally pronounced guilty. Justice Odili, the judge in charge of the case, said that "the accused persons had no case to answer in law and consequently have to set them free."^[14]

References